The BCTC folks were able to fix the problem last night that was preventing credits paid for in the kiosk from being applied to the patron’s printing account. The kiosk is now working again (the one on the 6th floor computer lab, though, is still out of order).
Tag: Printing
Printing Credit Kiosk Workaround
While the kiosk for adding printing credits is currently out of service, BCTC has offered a temporary workaround. Baruch students, Baruch alumni, and visitors to the library from other CUNY schools may go to the BCTC Help Desk to get 100 credits added to an existing account or, for visitors, added to a new one. A request for credits can only be done once per semester.
While Baruch students can easily go up to the 6th floor to the BCTC Help Desk, visitors from other CUNY schools will need to stop by the Public Safety desk by the 1st floor turnstiles to explain why they need access. All folks headed up to the BCTC Help Desk will need to have their Baruch ID card or EMPLID number handy before making the request at the desk.
Printing Credits Kiosk Not Really Working
The announcement yesterday that the printing credits kiosk was working again was too rash; as we learned today, money inserted into the machine won’t be added to your printing account. A ticket to BCTC has been submitted.
No Way for Guests to Print with Guest Printing Accounts
I’ve submitted a ticket to BCTC asking them to look into what happened to the link that used to appear on the PaperCut printing portal login page that gave users with guest accounts a way to log in and submit print jobs. For now, there is no way for guests to use their guest account to print.
In the Library Services wiki on the “Guest Printing” page there are detailed instructions showing how we used to have guests print. Until this issue is resolved, those instructions are now unusable. As a workaround, we can use our judgment to decide if and when to use our own printing accounts to help out our visitors.
Printing Credits Kiosk Works Again
It appears that BCTC has fixed the issue with the kiosk for purchasing printing credits that is located next to the reference desk.
Summer Printing Credits at 150
The printing allotment for students in summer sessions is 150 credits.
Printer Woes at the Ref Desk
We already have a support ticket in with the BCTC Help Desk to look into the problem with print jobs from across campus mysteriously coming out of our ref desk printer. I just added an additional item to that ticket to note that we can no longer sent print jobs from the ref desk computers to the printer.
If you want to check on the status of the ticket, it is #19616.
Public PC Error Message for “Paused” Printer
At the reference desk yesterday, I noticed that a few of the standup terminals by the circulation desk were giving students an error message when they tried to print. When the student brings up the print dialog box and clicks the OK button, a small pop-up window appears in the lower right corner indicating that the printer is paused. The print job does not get sent.
There is a way to work around this problem until it gets fixed. When the student is looking at the print dialog box, they should click on the part of that box that lists available printers. They’ll see that the one selected says “paused.” If they select the regular “B&W” printer from the options, the job will go through and everything will be fine.
After submitting a BCTC Help Desk request for this (and getting a ticket number for it), I spoke with Bruce Little from BCTC. He indicated that BCTC will resolve the problem, which is connected in some way to the Windows update program on those terminals. In the meanwhile, the trick I detailed above should allow you to help students move beyond the paused printer error message.
Printing accounts for NUF students
Students in the National Urban Fellows program need to visit the BCTC 6th Floor Computing Lab and ask for Bruce Little to activate their priting accounts. Please advise them to bring their IDs.
Printing Accounts for Summer Students
Students enrolled in either summer session have a printing balance of $30. Today, there have been problems with some students unable to access their printing accounts; send them to the Help Desk on the 6th floor with a copy of their bursar’s receipt showing their enrollment in a class this session so the staff there can fix their account problem.